Friday, 18 November 2016

Custom: Red Hulk


[Custom Playskool Heroes Red Hulk + effect (We love effects!)]


The angrier I am, the hotter I am! Hulk or get hug by this big red monster!

Check out our Playskool Heroes Red Hulk Custom video here

This Playskool Heroes Red Hulk is another quick and easy customs which you wouldn't imagine. Thanks to the huge similarities of all the HulkssssS and since we already have a Bruce Banner Hulk with different shades of green around all the Playskool Heroes release on play set, 2 pack-figure, exclusive and other single figure with vehicle packs.

Custom Progress

So how do we start? With all the different styles of Red Hulk from so many artist out there, we started to search for our most eye pleasing "Red Guy". Then we start a quick sketch with a few outcomes to suggest if that is the handsome Red Hulk in our mind.


[A quick view of Red Hulk from the web. (left have a nice hair cut), (right shows face features) ]

After we grab some handsome faces and best hair cut we can find in the web, we do some mix and mash sketch of these features we capture and we are good to go to the next step.

At one point we don't know if adding muscle would be a good thing or consider to make it more a unique sculpt from the green Hulk. But later we decide to keep it simple, since the Hulk is also as bulk and as crazy body builded as the Red Hulk but according the Playskool Hulk is so much 'sleek' and friendlier, it should be that of Playskool Standard. =)



[Comparison: Left Hulk, Right Red Hulk]

First, we took up an extra Hulk and start removing the waist details which seems to be work like a belt with strips of clothes tied with a knot. Since Red Hulk is General Ross, "Thunderbolts" and should be wearing something like slacks or cargo pant of some sort, so we keep it plain. What comes next is important to identify if it is Red Hulk itself. We carefully shave the front and sides of his hair bits by bits, shown that the web picture from above Red Hulk have a tapering forehead.

After the "reduce", we are now moving to adding. We give the Hulk a triangle shaped style of hair cut as shown above left. There are a few key feature to make the hair cut look great. First for the army cut, we outline the "M" shaped that Thaddeus Ross have and start sculpting the spikes from the font to the back. As the spike reaches the back, it goes shorter and slightly bended outwards on both sides giving it a natural curl.



[Red Hulk view on front, left & right]

After the hairdressing, we get some brush, paint and palette ready. The picture tells the outcome of the painting and colour mixing. We put up layers and layers of acrylic paint since water colour or oil paint doesn't do the job. We also did some detail paint work, drawing the eyebrows and eyes on the right position, phew.

Lastly, the final touch would be adding a coat of paint protection. We used 2 coats of quick drying lacquer and Red Hulk is done! We control the coats on certain regions like the joint parts to have less and thinner coats to be able to move freely and thats it!

Quick and fun custom with so little changes and a decent amount of work, no Hulking yourself making it! So this is it and the progress making of the Red Hulk. Hope you guys like my concept of Playskool Heroes style of Red Hulk!

And... video is here!




















Tuesday, 11 October 2016

Custom: Spider - Carnage

[Playskool Heroes Spider-Carnage custom (Font type: October Crow)]

Unleash the Carnage! When your friendly neighbourhood Spidey affected by the vicious symbiote, Carnage and this is when he call himself the Spider-Carnage! 

Who is Spider-Carnage?
Ben Reilly a clone of the original Spider-man, Peter Parker who took a new identity of Spider-Man to fight crime. Carnage symbiote escape from Ravencroft institute and later bonded with Ben Reilly to form the Spider-Carnage.


Spider-Carnage's appearance?

1. Spider-Man: The Animated Series (Season 5)
2. Web of Carnage (comic)



[Full body view of the custom Playskool Heroes Spider-Carnage]

Playskool Heroes Spider-Carnage (process)
Lately, we have a special request from a Youtuber for Spider-Carnage in the 3inch style from our first Playskool Heroes custom video.

We started with a few sketches of Spider-Carnage and took some reference from the comic and the animated series's Spider-Carnage since both of their appearance are slightly different. The animated series have humanoid facial trait with added lips to the mouth while compare to the comic version carries a strong Carnage trait, with sharp teeth and typical symbiote eye shape.


[Spider-Carnage Comparison: (Left fromAnimated Series), (Right from Comic)]

After a few comparison and a took some time to play mix and mash with both of the Spider-Carnage, we decide to have the "Carnage face" as it is much more closer to a symbiote than a Spider-Carnage with lipstick on (Fabulous Carnage). We also remain the fingers to be round and friendly rather of a sharp and pointy claws. Following with the sketch, we chose the "Web Racer Vehicle" set's Spidey as our base for Spider-Carnage. Why? Because that is Ben Reilly's Spiderman suit since it only needs to customise only the face and some symbiote tendrils around the thigh and arms.


[Right: Web Racer Vehicle Spider-man (base), Left: Spider-Carnage after customisation]

So after getting the base (spidey), we start to add some clay and sculpt the face, add some coil around the arms and legs for tendrils. One thing is you do notice its left hand is from a web shooting hand gesture to a relax gesture refering to the picture above. We removed the fingers and resculpted a hand for him since Spider-Carnage does not need the Spidey's style of hand gesture.

Next we paint them patiently and precisely with a few coats of paint, then we spray it with a fast drying lacquer and all is done! Only waiting it to be dry in just 10mins per coat.

Summing up the whole custom, it is a quick, easy and fun project to do. Time consuming part would only be looking for the Web Racer Vehicle Spidey (base on availability). As we actually did enjoy to work with requests given as the more the suggestion the more interesting the customising would be or it will work more like a way of introduction to a new Marvel Character since the numbers of superhero are beyond the horizon. From our thoughts, Spider-Carnage is definitely a worth doing figure as there is the lowest possibility that Playskool Heroes will not release a Spider-Carnage in any time whether the reason is popularity or for the kids because he is Carnage!









Monday, 3 October 2016

Loki & Hulk 2016



Finally Loki is here this year! (2016). After the watching Marvel Cinematic Universe Hulk and Loki scene from the 2012 Avengers movie, we are expecting this duo are going to appear in most of the toy line available in the market on that year or the following year. However Playskool Heroes is a lil' more on releasing the good guys figure on 2012. We have the Avengers set and the Avengers 2 set for Playskool Heroes. Since the marvel super hero squad line of figure have Loki, Playskool Heroes should have one too!

Check out our review on Loki and Hulk!


Playskool Heroes Hulk and Loki


[Original Packaging of Hulk & Loki]

Above is the original packaging for Loki and Hulk in a 2 pack figure. New recent packaging look and Hasbro exchange the "Playskool Heroes" and the "Marvel Super Hero Adventures", since the word "Playskool Heroes" is the brand name. The previous packaging makes quite a confusion for non-superheroes fan buyers to address them.




Coming to the star of the topic, Loki is able to be describe just like any other Playskool Heroes, well made! This Loki resemble closest to the super hero squad style Loki, wears green and gold, yellow/gold cape and long horns but what not to be expect is a giant shoulder guard (but looks cool!).

Features
1. Long horns (flexible material)
2. Gold and Green
3. Super hero squad style armor
4. Cape (cloth)

Articulation
Loki possess the 8 standard articulation like any Playskool Heroes
1. Head (swivel)
2. Hands (swivel)
3. Shoulders (Composite joint)
4. Legs (single rotation, rotates together)

Height
1. Whole: 2.9 inch (including horns)
2. Loki: 2.5 inch ( not including horns)

Loki's helmet and shoulder guard are made from flexible material. About the same feel as the plastic use to make other Playskool Heroes but much flexible and durable.



[Missing grooves on the inner side of the hands]

So is there a draw back of this figure?
Yes but no big deal. As we know the Playskool Heroes have grooves in between the fingers whether on the front or the back of the hand. Loki's inner side of the hands have no grooves, missing the clear definition of its fingers. A Legoish look I must say.






As conclusion, this 2 pack figure are a great combination! Great looking Loki, good for collection and play. Hulk smash! if you don not have a purple pant hulk yet. Best of it, Loki did not made less or without articulation even he needs extra effort to assemble the extra parts(shoulder guards & helmet).

Want to know more about these duo?
Watch our review video here!





Friday, 26 August 2016

Space Command Armor (r. 2016)


Meet the Space Command Armor made for Captain America to face off Thanos's evil plan!

A new release of Marvel super hero adventures play set from Hasbro this year (2016). This play set includes Captain America, Thanos and Space Command Armor! Check out the video here!

There is a new Marvel Cinematic Universe style of Captain America sculpt this year that is happen to be in Super Jungle Squad set, Space Command Armor set and Jungle ATV Captain America set. All of the these 3 set of "Captain" are consider a variant. Besides, the sculpt changes Captains's vibranium shield from right hand to left hand which you will only see old Captain America hold his shield with his right hand.

Captain America Variants:

1. Super Jungle Squad Set          - Captain wears blue utility belt and red boots
2. Space Command Armor         - Captain wears white utility belt and boots
3. Jungle ATV Captain America - Captain wears red utility belt and brown boots

Comparison
First impression for this play set for most of the Playskool Heroes fan or anyone who bought the set called "Stark Tech Armor" would notice the armor are about the same. Both of the set came with 2 figures and a gigantic armor, Captain rides the Space Command Armor and Iron Man rides the Hulkbuster.



[Comparison: Space Command Armor (right) & Stark Tech Armor (left)]

So what is the difference of this 2 set? 
Let's list out the difference of this 2 sets:

Space command Armor
1. Armor : - Repaint of Hulkbuster from Stark Tech Armor Set
                  - Captain America theme (e.g. Stars, blue and red)
                  - Rotatable claws
                  - Claws have no movable joints
                  - No platform inside the armor
                  - Thanos does not fit to the claws

2. Captain America : - New sculpt of 2016, Marvel Cinematic Universe style
                                  - Have darker shade of blue than Super Jungle Squad's Captain
                                  - White utility belt and white boots

3. Thanos : - Available currently (2016) only in this set
                   - Mono colour used (Yellow, blue and white for eyes)
                   - No articulation like other Playskool Heroes

Stark Tech Armor
1. Armor : - New sculpt of 2015
                  - Uses metallic gold paint
                  - Printed with Iron Man theme codes and labeling
                  - Rotatable claws
                  - Claws have movable joints
                  - A mountable platform inside the armor
                  - Hulk fits firmly to the claws

2. Iron Man : - New sculpt of 2015, Marvel Cinematic Universe style
                      - Only Iron Man figure that is half equipped (helmetless)
                      - 8 point articulation
                      - Only available in Stark Tech Armor set

3. Hulk : - New sculpt of 2015, Marvel Cinematic Universe style
               - Spring load in the body (it jumps!)
               - 3 point articulation



[Comparison: Space Command Armor Claw (left) & Stark Tech Armor Claw (right)]



[Comparison: Space Command Armor Mounting Platform (right) & Stark Tech Armor Mounting Platform (right)]

Thanos
Playskool Heroes Thanos is only available currently (2016) in this set. However, Thanos does not possess the standard 8 articulation like other Playskool Heroes. Thus, he is not poseable and only stand or pose as it is. 

Note: Thanos are hardly fitting in the Space Command Armor Claw due to no movable joint for the claws and if Thanos is forcefully fit to the claws, there might be paint damage.



Playskool Heroes, Thanos

So what is the scale of Thanos?
He have a massive body build and height of Hulk in most of the Marvel universe. In Playskool Heroes version, he is 2.55 inches tall which is about the height of Spider-man at 2.5 inches.

Refer to the comparison below for Thanos's height. This height graph is also featured in our video!


[Height Comparison : Groot (3"), Venom (2.75"), Thanos (2.55"), Spider-man (2.5"), Rocket Raccoon (2.25")]

Overall, the play set is cool and figures are collectable and things are keep improving. Thanos have a nice sculpt with cool face expression. If you want to look further about this set, check out our channel or look for this video here.

There are fun and interesting characters! More post to be up with more awesome 3inch adventures!



Thursday, 11 August 2016

Recalling a year back, 2015



The New 3inch Community

So how do this 3inch Community come about?

Since our first video on the Playskool Venom and Scarlet Spider review, we notice there are many more figures like Playskool heroes. Instead of a well-made and cool-looking characters, they have many joints for articulation which made many poses compare to many figures in a small scale.

After our discovery, we decided to have other Superheroes figure from Imaginext and Masked Rider's Series (THE仮面ライダーズ) to join in and build a massive community!


So what is next? What is the difference of Playskool Heroes, Imaginext and Rider's Series?

Here will be a brief explanation of these 3 main brands and their differences:

1. Playskool Heroes
Playskool Heroes from Hasbro currently(2016) consist themes like Marvel, Transformers, Jurassic World and Star Wars. Their figure's height are commonly between 2 inch to 3 inch which depends on the characters. Examples of 2 inch figures are short characters like Rocket Raccoon (Marvel) and Yoda (Star Wars) and there is only one 3 inch character that is Groot (Marvel) currently. 

The most frequent height of these Playskool Heroes are 2.5 inch and 2.75 inch. So that makes Groot the tallest so far (2016) and shortest are Yoda and Rocket Raccoon.


2. Imaginext
Imaginext figures from Fisher-Price have a standard 3 inch characters and sometimes the height would differ from 2.75 inch - 3.0 inch, depending on the characters. The themes from Imaginext currently (2016) are: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, DC Heroes and other non-hero theme like Monster inc, Toy Story, SpongeBob Squarepants, Dinosaur, Ocean, Castle, Rescue City and Pirates.

Imaginext figures are commonly seen with bright and vibrant colours. 

3. Rider's Series (THE仮面ライダーズ)
The Rider's Series (THE仮面ライダーズ) from Bandai are pronounced as "the kamen raidāzu" in Japan and the characters is known as Masked Rider worldwide. These series of toys are called candy toy (食玩) and distributed in Japan.

The figures also carries the "super deform style", with big heads, hands and feet. Their height is between 2.25 inch and 2.5 inch, not including their beetle horns (Yea, they are insects with horns and antenna. The height of the horns varies). Besides that, these beetle fighters are painted with excellent paint work; smooth and metallic paint.


Check out our channel here: ShortPlayMission

Friday, 15 July 2016

1st 2015 review video, Venom & Scarlet Spider

A video from a year ago (now 2016), our first video about the Marvel super hero adventures Venom and Scarlet Spider from Playskool, Hasbro. The first video posted on our Youtube channel called ShortPlayMission started with Venom and a few super heroes/villain (notably:Spider-man, Scarlet spider, Green Goblin, Captain America and Wolverine)  and slowly expand the community to nearly 100+ of them =D

Some of us refer them as Playskool Heroes and some refer them as Marvel super hero adventures, a lil' confusion of branding from the packaging. The "Playskool Heroes" is a brand name used for this line of toy which includes Marvel, Star Wars, Jurassic World and Transformer are under this same name.



Our first video's thumbnail: "Mission review: Playskool Scarlet Spider and Venom"

Playskool Venom & Scarlet Spider

A quick review of Venom and Scarlet Spider. A lil' information on the packaging, a lil' on the character and guess what? I try on some stop motion on Venom (starting at 1.43 in the video) which is fun and interesting to look at the outcome. Besides, I also mention about the super hero name "Scarlet Spider" is used 4 times repeatedly in the Marvel universe and they are Ben Rilley, Joe Wade, Iron spider (a.k.a. Scarlet Spider) and Kaine Parker.


Comparison: Playskool Heroes Scarlet Spider (left) and original Scarlet Spider comic appearance (right). 

The comparison shows Kaine Parker is the Scarlet Spider from the Playskool heroes figure. His mask is the only thing that does not match to his comic appearance which originally black colour mask and scarlet eye lens.

Overall the Playskool Heroes toy line most worth expanding point are the articulations, their articulation are located at the neck (1), both shoulder (4), both wrist (2) and legs (1) which makes up to 8 articulation. Not to mention no screw is present = no worry for rust or loose joints, since the toy line included 3 years toddlers.


Check out our first video here:
https://youtu.be/0VyEBUot0Cg


Saturday, 9 July 2016

Wednesday, 29 June 2016

Your 3 inch community



Do you have a collection of adorable little people? Something that is within your palms?

A Lego, Smurfs, Squinkies, Fighter pods, Micro figures or some old school rubber figures, you name it.

ShortPlayMission (SPM) is about putting stubby lil' 2" to 3" figures in some adventures, review new little freshy, build them a home, customize them, take some good pictures of them and the best of all, build a massive community of these guys! The best thing you would like to see is keeping your collection growing!


So in short, this is a place to appreciate these guys and share everything about them =)
Here is our Youtube Channel: ShortPlayMission


Here is a brief introduction to our 3inch Officers:


[from right to left: CSY (Founder), Ultron (Secretary), Venom (President of SPM)]